E-mail this article

To:

Invalid E-mail address

Add a personal message:(80
character limit)Your E-mail:

Invalid E-mail address

Sending your article

(City of Boston / File 2011)

In this photo taken last year, Mayor Thomas M. Menino (left) joined members of the United States Marine Corps to announce Boston's "Toys for Tickets" campaign and to help kick off the annual Toys for Tots campaign. Beside Menino is USMC Staff Sgt. Schidner.

By Matt Rocheleau, Town Correspondent

Boston parking scofflaws can pay off their fines they receive during the rest of this week by handing over a toy, instead of cash, to the city.

Any non-public safety parking ticket issued on Boston streets between Thursday, Nov. 29 and Saturday, Dec. 1 can be paid off by donating a non-violent, unwrapped toy of equal or greater value than the fine amount. The toys will be given to a local needy child for the holidays, city officials said.

On weekdays between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., toys can be brought to the parking clerk’s office on the second floor of City Hall. On weekdays between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. and on Saturdays between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m., toys can be brought to the city’s tow lot at 200 Frontage Rd.

And, on Saturday, Dec. 1 and Saturday, Dec. 8, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day, toys will be accepted at the city transportation department’s mobile command center at the intersection of Washington and Milk streets in Downtown Crossing.

Thomas M. Menino launched the program in 1993, his first holiday season as Boston’s mayor.

There is no set goal on how many toys the program hopes to collect.

Public safety violations that are excluded from this program are: parking in the way of handicapped ramps; parking in spots reserved for those with handicapped or disabled veteran license plates; blocking fire hydrants; parking in crosswalks; double parking; parking less than 20 feet from an intersection; parking in a fire lane; and being in a no stopping and standing zone.